Dwell into the pasttime of empowerment; video games

As everyone knows by now Capcom’s worst kept secret is out and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has been announced for next year. Capcom claims “after a decade of demand” with this announcement. Uhm the game came out in 2000. I’m pretty sure we didn’t demand MVC3 immediately after MVC2 hit arcades. I’m pretty sure we at least played it and played the hell out of it for a while and through the Dreamcast port before saying, “hey MVC3 would be sweet!”

Well it’s coming and all we know so far is it’s going to probably look like Super Street Fighter IV and one would assume play closer to this year’s Tatsunoko vs. Capcom “this will hold you over” hit from our favorite crack dealer Capcom. We also know only a few confirmed characters and none of them really being surprises. Niitsuma kind of shot off the hip saying there would be “about 30 characters” in the final product.

Wait, what? About 30? MVC2 had 55 (plus bone claw Wolverine) characters and honestly wasn’t that the whole appeal? Honestly I’m not a huge MVC fan. While I don’t consider myself tournament ready for really any fighter, if I had to pick one that I’m absolutely awful at it would be MVC2. I barely got a chance to play it in arcades and by the time I really wanted to get around to the Dreamcast port, the DC was dead and copies of the game skyrocketed in the triple digits. Despite downloading the PSN/XBLA remix on day one I’ve really struggled in honing my skills in MVC2. But why do I still love the game? Why do I still want to some day master at least one group of three characters? Why did I gobble up any potential MVC3 news the last couple years? I wanted to see a fucking huge roster of Marvel vs. Capcom characters. 55? Nah I wanted at least 60 and could easily rattle off all the cool ideas I wanted to see and come up with a roster that rivaled any overambitious MUGEN project. I wanted every character you could possible think of to join the fight.

Obviously that’s not going to happen; at least not in Capcom’s first release of MVC3. Thanks to Hi-Definition doing 55 characters in shiny new graphics and all the background assets, not to mention all the story focused stuff they want to bring into MVC3 and we’re talking one expensive freaking game. Actually getting 30 HD characters is probably pushing it and I’d like to thank Capcom for at least setting the bar that high.

But going from 55 to 30 (or potentially 32 as remember SSF4 was to only have “around 8 new characters” and it wound up with 10) means there’s going to be cuts made. Sorry folks, but not everyone is returning. As crushed as I originally was, honestly — over half of the MVC2 roster was never used by anyone. And MVC2 is now a decade old. Some of the characters on both sides have lost their relevance, and certainly Marvel’s reach and influence on the sphere of popular entertainment is much grander. Marvel makes mega-hit movies now and their major properties are nothing like they were a decade ago. Same goes for Capcom really. They’re created new series since and revived some of the more forgotten ones recently. It’s a perfectly logical leap that we’re going to see some new players join the fight. I’m almost thinking a lot of the roster will be completely new. The game has to be built from the ground up (mostly) might as well dump the characters you can.

I really hope some how Niitsuma was mistranslated and really said “about 30 per side” because my first real attempt at determining a roster for each side came to just around 25 per. I think I’m going to go with that as my number or here but even then I’m leaving of tons of great ideas. Getting this roster trimmed down to about 30 is going to be tough for Niitsuma and the rest of Capcom’s brass.

But without further ado, here are my 30 inital choices for Marvel’s side. Check back tomorrow or later in the week for my 30 choices to bring the pain for Capcom. And then for a third (and maybe final) part breaking it all down.

THECONFIRMED

Iron Man — Of course he’s confirmed by the trailer and he’s one of Marvel’s big movie players now thanks to Robert Downey Jr’s fantastic performance. Sorry folks, but I actually enjoyed Iron-Man more than Dark Knight (not that I didn’t like Dark Knight.) He was seemingly ignored as a MVC2 until the re-release on PSN/XBLA gave us a training mode. Given a better launcher move and maybe better counters Iron Man probably would be considered “God Tier” and I almost expect Tony Stark to be souped up a little more this time around.

Wolverine — I’m so sick of Wolverine and yet I can’t get enough of Wolverine. He’s just a genius character that’s over exposed but we still eat it up and I’ll admit he was my main for the original MVC and the previous X-Men fighting games. Obviously confirmed by the trailer and the fact that he’s fucking Wolverine.

Hulk — Also confirmed by the trailer and the fact that he’s had some successful movies — although we may see now a second reboot for the Hulk movie franchise. The Hulk’s just a great character — maybe Marvel’s best. Too bad I just don’t think he’s that good in the games. His size may give him great range and massive damage and Gamma Crush is a sight to behold, but he’s a combo magnet and smaller characters played right are going to eat the Hulk up.

WITHOUT A DOUBT

Captain America — Not confirmed by the trailer but that shadow sure looks like him and again it’s one of Marvel’s top icons and a top icon with a movie in the oven finally. As awesome as it would be to have Bucky Barnes Cap in the game (maybe as a costume change) Bucky himself said, “There is only one Cap — and that’s Steve Rogers.” I expect not much to have changed playwise either.

Spider-Man — How he’s not in the trailer already is beyond me. For me, when I think of Marvel I think of Spider-Man first and foremost. Oddly I’ve never used him to any length in the previous titles nor do I know anyone who really does either. He’s near the bottom tiers but still it’s freaking Spider-Man — he’s a lock.

Dr. Doom — The bad-ass dictator was a fan favorite in the last game because he was essentially the best keep-away character and I don’t expect that to change any. He’s also top dog once again in the Marvel Universe after Norman Osborne’s short, fluke reign. If there’s any villain in the Marvel U that’s a lock, it’s Doom.

Magneto — The other villain near-lock. MAG-FUCKING-NETO! Here’s to hoping he’s not so god-tier this time around but if you release MVC3 without Magneto there will be riots and blood. For a villain that started off as prehaps the lamest character ever devised, Magneto has come a long, long way.

Cyclops — The leader of the X-Men now and probably the most balanced character in the last game sitting right outside the god-tier. That said you usually don’t see Cyclops in too many of the top teams at tournaments and people just don’t like Cyclops I guess because he’s not Wolverine. Still the optic blast is such an awesome attack idea and Cyclops has been a staple in the series there’s really no reason why he wouldn’t be on the final roster.

STRONG BETS

Nick Fury — Or should we say Samual L. Jackson? I love 616 Nick Fury a lot and if you’ve never checked out Jim Steranko’s work on Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. then you owe yourself a favor to go find some of his artwork. But current Marvel seems to love them some Samual L and feel content to shove him down our throats in probably every upcoming Marvel movie for the next decade. I have him taking the place of Cable with weird big fucking alien guns and maybe some ranged grenades. Could make him a mix-up version of Cable.

Daredevil — Let’s not forget another thing that happened a decade ago at Marvel — Joey Quesada took over as Editor-in-Chief. Probably wouldn’t be fair to give him all the credit for pulling Marvel out of bankruptcy and into the powerhouse entertainment brand it is currently, but it did all happen under his watch. While the Daredevil movie was a horrible flop (and you let Steven Mark Johnson make TWO more films for you? facepalm indeed) Joey Q did do the pencils for Kevin Smith’s amazing, but oft-delayed, run on Daredevil and has continued to be one of Marvel’s best books over the last decade. Not saying it’s all Joey Q but Daredevil is a character that has dramatically increased in relevance since MVC2 came out and I would assume if Quesada has some say in the Marvel side of the roster then The Man Without Fear gets a nod.

Thor — Another Marvel A-lister that’s finally getting a movie o his own real soon. Wouldn’t make any sense to put out MVC3 around the time a Thor movie is popular and not have Thor in the game. Essentially he’s been on the wishlist since his cameo in the original MVC. He’ll be nerfed obviously, much like Thanos in MVC2 but I assume you mix in a little bit Thanos with a little bit Storm and call it a day.

Deadpool — The Merc with the Mouth has never been more popular than he is now. Thanks Ryan Reynolds. Deadpool’s popularity was near the shitter when MVC2 came out and after a failed restart with Agent X (a series I still kind of hold dear to my heart) Deadpool’s really been steadily gaining in relevance. He’s already appeared in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games and I don’t see any reason for him to be skipped now. Could play out as one of the more balanced characters, but could also wind up dangerously overpowered.

Norman Osborne — At one point in time people wouldn’t touch the Green Goblin with a ten-foot pole. The guy was uber-lame and Marvel attempted to replace him with ‘hip’ versions like Hobgoblin and Demogoblin. Despite his history with Peter Parker and Spider-Man everyone considered Doc Ock Spidey’s main nemesis. Then Sam Raimi came along and said I’m going to do a Spider-Man movie and the main villain is going to be Green Goblin. You look at Raimi’s previous track record and you realize “oh Jesus this is going to be laughed right out of theatres.” Except it wasn’t. Willem Defoe’s performance put Normie back into the limelight as a villain and man Goblin was fucking everywhere. Hell Marvel even decided to try him as their alpha-heel for a short while. While he’s been stopped finally he’s still a major player in the Marvel Universe now, something he barely was a decade ago. Goofy old Goblin would have fit right in with MVC2 and I’m still do this day surprised that he wasn’t included. It’s time to rectify this error.

50-50 MAYBE

The Thing — There’s little doubt that the Fantastic Four will have a representative in MVC3 and I’d call it a lock but will we see just one? Will we see all four? I think Ben Grimm is the most likely to find his way onto the roster. Who doesn’t want to see the Hulk take on the Thing now in video game form? There’s a desperate need for a mid-size brawler on my Marvel roster and the Thing would be MVC3’s Alex/Abel counterpart.

Mr. Fantastic — If Ben’s not in the game then Reed Richards could get the call. He won’t be spitting out fire but Richards could make Dhalsim redundant on the overall roster. But I think it could work the other way against Richards as Dhalsim is already established in the previous titles. Human Torch or Invisible Woman could be interesting stand-ins, as so could sometime FF member Black Panther.

Super Skrull — A lot of people point out one of the shadows in the trailer looks like Super Skrull and honestly it would be a fantastic idea. But would it mean the Fantastic Four wouldn’t be such a fantastic idea? Super Skrull has the abilities of all four members of the team so would he render them redundant? The other idea is to use Xavin, a Super Skrull in training who has the powers of all four Fantastic Four members but can only use one power at a time. I would assume if a Super Skrull is in the game it will be Kl’rt and Xavin would be more of a wet dream fantasy.

Iron Fist — Marvel does have an Iron Fist movie in the works and I think the character has high potential as a combo-heavy rush character. He’d fit in perfectly with the gameflow but there’s one factor weighing heavily against him. I like Iron Fist. Will I go see his upcoming movie? Maybe on DVD. Do I buy his comics? Eh….no. I do have that #1 of that relaunch a while back. And yet I can’t imagine I’m the only one that feels the same way about the character. I like the character as a supporting character who makes guest appearances in other books to keep this sense of shared superhero community, but as a lead I’m not exactly jumping over myself for more Iron Fist. The character could be interesting but Marvel’s rarely been able to do anything with him to hold my interest. I want to see him on the roster but with only mild popularity I can easily see him forgotten quickly by the staff.

Black Bolt — A member of the Inhumans and considered one of the Marvel’s most powerful characters. He’s slightly obscure to the casual crowd but his look and potential move set could make him a hit with the crowd. He can level entire cities with just a whisper of his voice. He brought the Hulk to his knees — uhm before the Hulk savagely beat his ass (turned out to be a Skrull imposter though so his street cred is still intact.)

Spider-Woman — Another character that Bendis has pretty much pushed and pushed and pushed until people kind of just said “alright she’s high profile, we get it!” Being pretty much left for dead nearly two decades before MVC2 it’s very reasonable why she was skipped over last time. While she’s now a prime-time player there is the danger that she might be considered too much like Spider-Man — the roster could use some more sexy on it.

White Queen — The need for more sexy brings us to Emma Frost. This bad bitch has been a prominent figure in the X-men books since Generation X in the mid-90s, but never really propelled to the top until Grant Morrison’s X-Men run. She’s wears revealing outfits, she flaunts her cleavage and she can turn her body into diamond. I’m putting her down as a 50-50 but I think the possibilities make her too good to pass up.

Dr. Strange — Strange is awesome. Again why was he not in MVC2? Just an unforgivable oversight. Shuma-Gorath made it into the game, that’s just injustice right there. The Sorcerer Supreme and his magic should allow Capcom’s imagination run wild when thinking up his move set. I just get the feeling someone on either side will screw this up in lieu of having two versions of Wolverine, X-23 and Dakan all in the game. Grumble Grumble.

LONG SHOTS

Luke Cage — I still laugh at Luke Cage even though Brian Michael Bendis has spent most of the last decade attempting to change the perception of Luke Cage. One of the first comic books I ever got was an old Luke Cage: Hero For Hire book and you just never shake that image, first impression out of your mind. But he’s been a major part of Bendis’s reimagining of the Avengers. He hangs out with Iron Fist and his generic powers kind of hurt his chances. I think he has an outside shot of making it. His inclusion in the upcoming reformation of the Thunderbolts is odd, but may help his chances.

Frank Castle — The Punisher never really sat right with me. All the comics I grew up on told me good guys just don’t kill. Punisher told us differently. Honestly it could have been something morally grey and sometimes thought provoking stuff has been done with the Punisher character. But mostly when the Punisher is used it winds up a failed attempt at being edgy and mature. Oddly the first Punisher movie was fantastic fun. Still haven’t seen the second one but I get the generally feeling that it did Castle no favors in being considered relevent for this game. However the recent events of Dark Reign and Castle’s second death may have done him enough to get in. Frank Castle is now Franken-Castle for the League of Monsters and seems right up Capcom’s Darkstalkers ally. The weird Frankenstein’s Monster body could provide for an interesting move set.

Blade — Maybe a couple years ago Blade would have been a lock. Three fairly average to good movies and one failed TV series later and Blade’s starpower seems to have faded as quickly as it had ignited. But he’s not as fringe of a player as it would seem in the comics and he is recognizable to the causal fan base thanks to Wesley Snipes. We may be six years removed from Blade: Trinity but if you put him on the roster I know people will go ‘oh shit! It’s Blade motherfucker!” And he did at least have a role in Civil War and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

Moon Knight — Always thought he was going to be the next Blade type characters that Marvel dredged up from the vault and turned into a success. He’s done alright since coming back into the spotlight in 2006 but still a fairly obscure character at this point. Could be a sleeper though as he’s kind of the Marvel equivalent to Batman. Just not as cool as apparently by “vault” I mean he was out of the spotlight only 8 years yet I don’t remember him ever until they brought him back in 06. So you can’t just copy Batman and make it work apparently. Who knew? He apparently has three alter egos so he’s more of a nutjob than Bruce Wayne. Marvel’s seems to have a soft spot for him so there’s a chance for him to make the roster. I’m not sure if I’ll miss him if he’s not there.

NO CHANCE IN HELL

Sentry — He maybe one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe but for people outside of the comics it might be difficult to explain to them why he’s different or unique from several other characters already on the Marvel’s A-List. Also Sentry would have to be incredibly nerfed to even fit into the roster but even then the amount of insane moves you could have with Sentry is just incredible. I would love to see him as a boss or one of those characters that if you select him you can’t select any partners. Maybe that would balance him slightly.

She-Hulk — a lot of people the past couple of days have been championing She-Hulk since MVC3 was announced. She’s the female version of the Hulk but keeps her sleek, sexy form because super strong green women are awesome and who wants to see a female Hulk anyway? She’s also a lawyer and always had the potential to be the Marvel version of Wonder Woman if they ever got off their asses and really pushed her. Marvel could start by throwing her in the MVC3 mix. I’m sure you could make her a faster yet less lethal version of the Hulk and mix her up just enough to make her more interesting than just a female Hulk clone.

A Young Avengers rep — Young Avengers refuses to die. Who knows why they keep it around but I’m going to assume if they do keep it alive they must like it and they may push for a Young Avenger on the MVC3 roster. The problem with the Young Avengers in terms of a fighting game is the interesting members are all essentially mini versions of characters that are either confirmed or in that soon to be confirmed category. Hulkling? Patroit? Iron Lad? Good characters but redundant in a game with the Hulk, Captain America and Iron Man running around. Who the fuck would play the kid versions? So that leaves you with the two meh members — Stature who’s the daughter of Hank Pym (Giant Man) or Kate Bishop who’s taken over the mantle of the archer Hawkeye. Both characters could be slightly interesting in combat with Stature being able to grow and shrink in size and Hawkeye mixing it up with projectiles and traps. A third option might be The Vision but I’ve just never been a fan of his look or the character.

Namor— one of Marvel’s oldest characters why was he overlooked? Now that there’s potentially a Sub-Mariner movie on the way (although we haven’t heard anything since 2006) Namor might be able to play that card now. Still I’m not sure he’s a popular character with the younger generation. Also they may have to take liberties with his powers and give him some water based attacks. I don’t know. I have a soft spot for Namor because of his history and he’s a prick but I just can’t see him making an interesting addition to the game.

BECAUSE THERE’S ALWAYS AT LEAST ONE STUPID CHOICE

Ghost Rider — I don’t quite dislike Nic Cage as much as I use to. National Treasure and the Weather Man have kind of softened my barbs towards the overrated douchebag. But mix him with Steve Mark Johnson, who’s skull I want as my ashtray (and I don’t even smoke,) and I still haven’t seen Ghost Rider, so I can’t comment on its quality. But it’s still a Marvel movie franchise which makes him sort of relevent I guess. Ok, not really. It’s fucking Ghost Rider. Who the hell reads Ghost Rider? Honestly, the only thing he has going for himself is that he had a movie and he’s a dude with a flaming skull for a head. Yet Marvel’s failed time and time again to make this guy cool.

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